Yokohama teams triumph at muddy, snowy Rocky rally

CALGARY (May 28, 2011) – A pair of Yokohama team mates triumphed over what veteran rally observers called the most difficult conditions in a decade to score a one-two finish at the dramatic Rocky Mountain Rally here. 

Reigning Canadian, North American and Rally America rally champions Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard edged ahead of team mates and series rivals Pat Richard and co-driver Leanne Junnila in the final three stages of the snowy, muddy, weather-shortened second round of the Canadian Rally Championship to post a slim 5.3-second victory. 

A changing mix of heavy snow, gravel and mud put a premium on tire performance. Both L’Estage/Richard and Richard/Junnila relied on Yokohama A031 competition tires to cope with the treacherous conditions. 

Pat Richard’s Subaru WRX STi led for most of the event, which was delayed by a major snowfall that kept event workers from making to the stage roads in Kananaskis Country. When the rally finally began, the Squamish, B.C.-based Subaru rally Team Canada jumped into the lead from the first competitive stage over roads that were alternately snow-covered and muddy, and headed L’Estage’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X by nine seconds by the first service halt.  

Battling back with one stage to go, L’Estage, of St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, and Nathalie Richard, of Halifax, pulled ahead of Pat Richard (Squamish, B.C.) and Junnila (Calgary) by a mere 1.7 seconds. The final stage was an epic Mitsubishi/Subaru battle, with L’Estage taking the win by the smallest margin in a Canadian event in recent memory. 

Leo Urlichich (Toronto) and Martin Brady (Ireland) finished third in a Subaru. 

With wins in the first two series rounds, the L’Estage/Richard duo sits atop the Canadian Rally Championship standings. Richard/Junnila are second. 

The six-event Canadian championship has been televised nationally on TSN and RDS since 1993, and is made available on multiple media platforms, including TSN 2, as downloads from iTunes, on-line on Flat Over Crest (www.flatovercrest.com) and to 80 million homes in Europe on MotorsTV. 

Yokohama Tire (Canada) Inc. markets and distributes a full line of tires for high performance, passenger car, light truck, and commercial truck applications, as well as off-the-road tires for mining, forestry and construction applications. It maintains distribution centers across Canada to serve more than 700 independent tire dealers and more than 2,000 retail locations.